Elder Ben

Wednesday, July 9, 2014

Tuesday, July 8, 2014

My flight is on Delta Airlines and my terminal is unit 2. It says i will be leaving unit 2, ? I think thats the information that everyone needs, ha anyways, Yesterday was really busy, me and elder velez were saying good bye to everyone yesterday in humaya, today we will be doing the same, i am going to try and get two areas in.... Here in Culiacan i served in Libertad, Villa Verde, and Humaya. I will be trying to cover members and people that are in villa verde and Libertad.
This last week was a very busy week even though everything in my mind was saying you are leaving........ hah It was a productive week, We had the last zone meeting, and we went with the asistents on divisions, The capacitations and divisions took up a lot of our days during the week, and the truth is it was a good last week, ME and Elder Velez are trying to make every minute count and i am very EXCITED!!!!!!!!! Tonight we are going to eat dinner with the president and have interviews, There are still lots of things to do. This is not my last letter....... Atleast i hope not haha i expected my letter to be a lot longer telling all about my mission. but this will have to do, My mission has been amazing, I feel like i have been pushed to my limit and even when we are pushed to our limits as missionaries the phrase that Jesus really does carry us the extra miles is true, He helps us through our problems and helps us go even more than we thought we could I have seen it through these last weeks and I am happy to be a living witness of missionary work, how it is lived, how it is loved, and it has just been a lot of heaven crammed into 2 wonderful years.
My heavenly Father has allowed me to love all of his children here in Mexico Starting with Escuinapa, Juan Jose Rios, Ruiz Cortinez, Libertad, Juarez, Villa Union, Villa Verde, Infonavit Humaya. He has also blessed me with all of the love in return from all the people that i have come in contact with. He blessed me with great companions that i will remember forever, I am very grateful for my trainers. They helped me a lot.They always encouraged me to do my best, and when i said things wrong they always corrected me in a loving way. All my companions tought me alot of things and i am very grateful for all of them. I made lots of friends to other missionaries who werent my companions, and they are also amazing. I am grateful for the order of the church that god has given us. Through this organization we are blessed through people who have been called of God. I am grateful for my president and his calling to serve here in Culiacan and forever they both presidente cantu y presidente Velez have impacted my life forever.
I am going to talk a little about the fun stuff now, besides getting hit by a black ford Ranger, My finger being bitten by a pregnant cat, sweating in the sun, seeing a book of mormon in the trash, MY hand bitten by a chihuahuah, having big dogs chase us on our bikes, being pooped on by pigeons, waking up with a bacteria growing in your stomach to the tip of your tongue, being stuck in the hospital for two weeks without a change of clothes because your companion has dengue, falling off your bike, getting stuck in the rain, eating intestines, or heart of a cow, I think the worst feeling out of all of these was being rejected preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ.
being a missionary of the true church of God, Seeing miracles, Listening to the spirit whisper where you should go, baptizing bringing souls unto Christ, helping less actives become strong in the gospel,getting a blessing from your companion, or giving blessings to other people knowing and having faith that they will be healed. Receiving food from people you dont even know. Having great companions, loving the people you serve, receiving revelation the moment you need it, when you see promises in the bible or the bom come to pass. the many blessings that we have been giving. Making friends that i can always be in contact with. in this mission you eat great food every day!puros Mariscos. Learning and growing in the scriptures.
I think of all of these things and i get the feeling that everything was more than worth it!!!!!!! I would go back and do it all again, I would like to serve again in the future with a special companion it is one of my goals!!! I have learned to love the scriptures and i feel like i have formed good habits here on my mission, i hope to keep all of them throughout all my life. I know that the mission helps everyone who serves and it will always be a blessing throughout all of there lives.
I know that this is the true gospel of Jesus Christ, I know that Christ is my redeemer and he loves us unconditionally. I know that Our heavenly Father has a plan for all of us and i have grown to learn that i am one of his children. I know that we all need to do our best to grow and to apply what the prophets of God teach us. I know that the organization today is the same that Jesus Christ had when he lived. I know that missionary work is something constant, and in this past week i have grown to know a little bit what the word constant means, We as children of God need to be constant in the commandments that he has given us, I know that we should love everyone around us like heavenly Father and Jesus Love us. I know that the book of mormon is true and that it is another testament so that we learn and continue in his ways in these days. I want you all to know that i love my Heavenly Father and i love his Son, I know that we need the valor and the courage to stand for what is right in all places and in all times, I Know that families are forever, and i know that through temples we are able to be sealed for all time and eternity, I know that love in the family is a celestial attribute. I know that missionary work is one of the greatest ways that others can know the fullness of the gospel. I want you all to know my testimony and that i love you, I share these things with all of you en el sagrado nombre de JesuCristo amen.
Elder Fellingham
Culiacan, Lz, Humaya!!

Monday, June 30, 2014

bueno!!!!! I cant believe its the last week in the mission, The last week is always the greatest and i hope i make it to be even greater. Its hard to make memories when you have a limited time..... i didn't think these days would come. This past week went fast for me..... we worked with a lot of the youth and it went really well, like i told everyone we were going to be working with them, we did! and it went really well. We had a great week, and we bonded with the youth. Interesting news, This past Sunday we got together with two wards and we changed the division of the wards. The bishops changed churches, and me and my companion will now be going to another church. We have all decided that everyone that has been changed will be very missed... ha there were lots of people that said we are going to miss well other people from the ward. It was a pretty big change, but the division of the wards is a lot better, and i know that it will be better for the future also.
The missionaries are happy and excited to be able to add members and investigators into there own areas, It will also be a hard thing to do, to pass your investigators to other missionaries... especially when we have bonded and already had time together. But we feel that everything is for a reason and it is Gods work and he knows what is happening! So everything is good.
This last Sunday me and my companion will be assisting a new church with new faces. I feel like i haven't even had time to find any friends here, just some of the youth. They are the ones that i have gotten to know most through divisions. There are three that are getting ready to leave for there missions and we have been focusing on them a lot. One of the youth is the son of my old president President Cantu! he was the president before president Velez. He has been called to go to Florida, he actually speaks English pretty well. The other two have been called to go to places here in Mexico. They are awesome and will be very successful missionaries.
We baptized last week Her are the pictures

​Marie olea with her grandchild,

​Her baptism was very beautiful!!! Very nice.
Im glad to hear that the ragnar race went well!!!! I am surprised that 8 members of the family ran it, bet your legs are smoked : ) danny said it smoked my bags : ) hehe. Heidi there isnt anything that i need haha muchos thank yous, Lots of the things i dont even remember that are in the united states.... its weird, when i try to think my mind just goes blank.... i will have to see around when i get home. I am very excited to be coming home, my mind is still focused i feel like here in the mission, we are still teaching and this week we have lots of things to do. mostly organization....... because of the big change with the wards, we have to organize all the maps again and all the registers of the members and investigators, so that should keep us busy. !!!! I am excited for Gods work and i have loved it, it has been a really great experience, It has been a good mission. I love you all and i will see you almost next next wednesday : ) Love you, bye!!!!!!!!
Elder Fellingham
Culiacan, Lz, Humaya!!

Monday, June 23, 2014

Wednesday, July 9th at 9:37am i will leave Culiacan, Mexico, My second home where My heavenly Father put me for 2 wonderful years, To serve his children and to grow spiritually and to baptize his children in the True church of Jesus Christ! I will land in Los Angeles, CA at 1:00pm
I will have time to get to my other gate with 3 other missionaries and we will leave from LA to Utah my home at 4:39pm and we will arrive at 7:25pm
This past week went very well! We were able to baptize Marie Olea!!! She is a 56 year old women, and she has received all of the lessons, and i am happy that i was able to be a part of it. This past friday she was baptized and her baptism was very beautiful! She loved it, and after we had cake because it was her birthday also! Yesterday she went to the church earlier than us, and she was ready to receive her confirmation, I was lucky enough to confirm her a member of the church. She has a few children that live in Utah in Huntington, and she said that she will be going to visit, and i am going to be able to see her and maybe even go to the temple with her to show her around. I hope you all have the chance to meet her when she comes.! It was a very special experience for me and my companion. More for me knowing that she goes to Utah sometimes.
Thats the exciting news that we had this past week. We have been teaching the same people, some progressing more than others, I am hoping to see other miracles before.... well i come home : / I cant believe the mission is almost over. Until the last day the miracles dont stop : ) We have changes the 7th of jJuly and i will have 3 days to do basically whatever i want her in Culiacan. me and another missionary have already decided to room together in the hotel that we will be staying in. His name is Elder Velez. He is from Pachuca. To tell the truth it has been really emotional lately... Almost everyone i see tells me that i am leaving......... and it can be difficult to focus sometimes. This week to finish we have lots of youth that are planned to work with us during the day, they are a great help, and it has helped me continue be an example and help them learn. I would encourage the missionaries that also will receive this letter that if you arent asking youth to work with you Do it! : ) It is a great way to receive lessons with a member and to help the investigator have someone they know when they go to the church, in return it also helps the youth and prepares them to serve missions: ) It is incredible! There are only 2 days during this week that we dont have youth to work with us.
Here in Culiacan it has been raining in the nights. It has been kind of weird, Usually it doesnt rain this time of the year... Usually when we head in to go to the house it rains and it is cloudy. Last night the power went out and i woke up sweating..... I stayed up for about an hour and they repaired the electricity and then i went back in with the air... ha I am happy we are in a house that has air.... anyways I love you all!!! All is well, Finishing strong!! I hope everyone has a good week, I will see everyone in two weeks!!!!!!!!!!! Love you all!!!
Elder Fellingham
Culiacan, Lz, Humaya!!

Monday, June 16, 2014

haha I like my title. I am so happy that i have made the decision to stay here in the mission! Me and my companion have been having a blast in these past days. I am trying to make every day count! The sun gets hotter and sometimes the days go by so slow but i wouldnt change my decision for anything. I am pretty much just used to being in my sweat, and my companion is just barely hitting the point where he doesnt like it haha. I told him that i remember those moments, but it goes by and you just dont care anymore.
There was a lady that looked at me and said ¨its good to sweat¨, and i glanced at her and made a half smile while the sweat was dripping from my face haha, and i told her thanks hermana maria, ha Maria is the one who will be baptized this saturday!!!! We are very excited for her. It will be her birthday that day also. We just barely taught her the last lesson yesterday, everything in her paper that we fill out is filled out and she isnt missing anything. The last lesson we tought was if Thomas S. Monson is a prophet of God. We gave her a Liahona from this last general conference, and we gave her the talk that thomas S. Monson gave and we told her to read it and pray and ask specifically if he is a prophet. It should be easy to receive her answer, because she already has a testimony of the book of mormon, and of Joseph Smith. We are excited that she will be baptized!!!!! I will send pics next week.
We were kind of bummed this past week because the investigators that we are teaching none of them came to church last sunday well yesterday : / we called and checked with all of them, and they all said they were going to be their, but for some reason or another they werent able to come. We think it was for fathers day.... but its no excuse : ) Anyways, we are still working with the same families, and they are progressing, we are getting there!!! We are hoping for a couple more baptisms in these three weeks that come! We are working hard with these sons and daughters of God so that they can be baptized!
My letter will also be short today, we dont have a ton of time, we have an appointment at 6:00pm But i love everyone, Im excited to see you all very shortly, Me and my companion are well, I got the x rays done and my spine is different, it is more sraight now. Not completely, but there is a big difference in how it used to be. I will have another appointment with the doctor this week, and i will see what he says.! Everything is all good! Love you all. Have a great week!
Elder Fellingham
Culiacan, Lz, Humaya!!

Monday, June 9, 2014

Hey everyone!!! im happy i get to write today! This past week we had a lot of experiences! I am not going to be able to tell all of them but i will tell a couple. Lots of the experiences made me really happy, me and my companion! #1. i am almost done taking therapy!!! They have been putting electricity things on my back for the last three weeks, 3 times a week.... ahhh but i am happy to say that i only have one more therapy and they are going to take x rays again and we are going to see if my spine has changed!!!! I have done everything that the doctor has told me so i am expecting changes.. But everything has gone well. ! I don't know why the pain came back, but just to let you all know, the therapies have really helped me and i feel a lot better! i last through the day without my back getting tired. Usually when it happens i just grunt through it. But i am very happy that it is healing.
#2. We have been teaching a family. The familia Medina! We have taught them 3 times now, the first week the wife came to church with her mother in law, and she was very happy to be their. The second time we have been focusing on there daughters and 2 of the 4 daughters came this past Sunday!!!!!! It was so great to see there faces in the sacrament meeting. We asked around after to some of the members and they said that they really liked the classes and they participated! We are really hoping for the next Sunday to have the other two daughters and the husband in the church. We are going to have a family home evening tonight at 7:00pm with there family. I am always really excited to teach them and to see them because I haven't seen a family like this progressing so quickly in a while. I am happy to have the opportunity to teach them. We are planning to give them a baptismal date as a family. We are waiting until everyone participates. The two other daughters are rebels to join in in the lessons, but we are fixing that! We also had four other investigators that came to the church with us! We have lots that are progressing. We are hoping to have the next baptism the 21st! It is a lady named maria and she wants to be baptized on her birthday. She has all of the lessons, but we are just waiting for her birthday!!!
I have a big picture of them in my mind being baptized!
#3. This past week was really busy!!!! super busy, we gave our zone meeting in front of all the 22 missionaries. It went really well.! Well..... We planned it really well, we used videos and good scriptures and the spirit was really felt. The only thing that we wished from the missionaries was to participate..... They didn't participate very much. Everyone was very quiet and shy to speak.... : / We are working with some of the missionaries in the zone trying to help them with their areas! Some of them are having a hard time. but i am very happy to say that last week we had 6 baptisms, and this past week we had 3. In the zone we have baptized 5 weeks in a row, and everyone is doing very well.!!!! We are finding the people that the lord wants us to find. This zone really does have a great spirit!! i feel like all of the missionaries are really good at listening to the spirit, they are awesome!
These are the main things that have happened this past week. Me and my companion are a fun companionship. We talk non stop, and we are always laughing at things. I am going to send a picture of the zone. It isnt everyone because some missionaries had to leave early because they had citas! lessons!
This is all for today but i love you all!!!!!!!!!!!! Hope everyone has a great week. Love Elder Fellingham

NORMAL

FUNNY
This is almost all of the zone we are just missing two missionaries,
Left top to right bottom
E.Rasmussen my son! i trained him : ) E.Merkley, EGramajo, E,Perez, E.Ramos. Mi compañero E Guzman, E Fellingham, E.Coombs, E. Lopez, E. Garfias, Hna Fonseca, Hna Wall, Bottom row Hna Ayala, hna Hernandez, Dora she isnt a missionary, Hna dicent, Hna nichole, hna braithwaight , hna parke, hna alonzo and the other two missionaries that arent their are elder zarate, and elder hughes. The Zone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!HUMAYA!!!!!!!!
​

Monday, June 2, 2014

Hola a todos!!!! Hey everyone Hope everyone had a great week!!! We had a really good week here in Humaya, it was my first week here, and me and my companion have had a great time so far. We are really good friends and we have a lot in common. This week we had the opportunity to go to (Potrero) The pictures that I sent are from the baptism that we had their! that little group of people is one family. They are all family. The rama in Potrero is made of 30 people. It reminds me of Villa Union! It is small, but it amazes me of the fidelity and devotion the people have here, to stick to there standards and beleifs! They are amazing. The president in Potrero and his wife are very strong and very nice. He is a farmer and he looks like he is only 25 years old. When we were driving their to Potrero it was pure fields of alfalfa,corn,wheat and other things. and then we got even further....
The whole way their i felt like a little kid asking his parents when are we going to get their..... haha the truth is is that is way far away...... It took us an hour and ten minutes to get their, and and hour and ten minutes back. In our ward we have a guy in our ward that has his own business and is very wealthy, and he sells medications... He has a lot of drivers that drive around the city with medications..... (medecine) and he tells one of his drivers to go and pick us up every Thursday. We go to Potrero every Thursday and his drivers take us their.
It is very amazing. !!!! I was very surprised the first time we went. It was a very awesome experience for me to go their. It was very spiritual, and i felt very diferent in that little rama of Potrero with my companion.
Before there used to be missionaries their, but the president took them out of the area because it is dangerous, there are a lot of narcos their they say, we are only allowed to visit for a short time, and during the day, and only once a week. But everything is fine, and i love the time that we get to be their.
We have lots of people that we are teaching the family medina, blanca and her daughter and another cool experience with elizabeth. They are people soon to be baptized, we are preparing them to get baptized, to be short
Family medina is having a rough time right now. They want to get a divorce and we are helping them, they have four or five daughters.... the parents are both members but there daughters arent...
The wife just barely came to church this past sunday she hast gone to church for 20 to 25 years.... and it was a huge step for her to come to church. Her mom is a member and she always wants to go, she is about the age of grandma and she cant hear, and she cant walk very well and she cant see.... : / but she is very diligent in all her efforts when it comes to sunday to go to church. : ) She is awesome.
Blanca isnt married with her husband, Her daughter is america and America s boyfriend is member. America just got baptized two months ago, and she has a very strong testimony! She has helped her mom also have the desire to be baptized and we are going to help them get married, and then baptize them! The dad is tough, he is a little difficult with understanding things from the book of mormon but we are trying to find time with him.
Elizabeth we just barely tought her for the first time, and she cried at the end and she knows that the things we teach are true, i dont think she has a husband, and she has three or four kids. Her brother tells her not to listen to us,but she still does anyway. She has a date to be baptized for the 28th of this month and we are going to help her reach it. She has lots of desires to know more, even though she cried and knew in the moment that it is true she didnt come to church this sunday.... bummer, but we just barely started teaching her, and it was a cool first experience with her. }
This is my first week here in humaya!!!! and it was very awesome! i am excited to finish my last change here and it is better to go big!!! finish with everything that you have : ) Im looking forward to it. Hope everyone has a great week!!!!!!! Love you all!
Elder Fellingham
Culiacan, Lz, Humaya!!

Me and my companion eating sushi!!!!! We get along really well, we are like brothers!

We went to a ranchito named potrero. Its part of our area, it is a special area!!! even though we live in the center of culiacan. Potrero is like an hour and ten minutes from the city and we had a baptism!!! His name is gabriel! very awesome. The people their are really sweet!

Mi compañero!!!! here they baptize in boxes with a tarp ha, usually all of the ranches here do it like this because they dont have a church big enough with a baptismal font, after the third time it was valid! and he was very willing, especially here in culiacan!!!! Its super hott!!!!!!!!!!!!